Lifting and manually carrying luggage at airports, railway stations, hotels or other sites is a task which is generally disliked by travelers. Rental luggage carts are available at certain sites of this kind but the renting process is itself an inconvenience and such carts do not remain with the traveler after the baggage is checked in. Air travelers, including aircraft crew members must typically walk a sizable distance after leaving the baggage check in area and the rental cart is no longer available for the purpose of transporting carry-on luggage cases at such times.
Heretofore, much use has been made of wheeled luggage carriers which typically have a light weight and foldable construction to facilitate handling and storage of the device when it is not in use. Prior U.S. Pat. No. 5,127,662 discloses one example of a carrier of this type.
Such carriers are essentially small hand trucks of the type which have a platform on which the luggage case is rested, a pair of wheels which extend below one edge region of the platform and a handle which extends upward from the edge region. The user grasps and tilts the handle to lift the platform and luggage case upward from the underlying floor or the like and the carrier may then be pulled or pushed to the destination of the case. Such carriers are helpful but are not entirely free of inconveniences of their own.
The carrier is not self stabilized and it is not entirely self supporting during movement. A person who is pulling or pushing such a carrier must continually exert additional effort in order to hold the carrier at the tilted orientation that enables it to be traveled along the floor or other surface. In the absence of such effort by the user, gravity pivots the carrier until either the platform or the handle itself contacts the floor.
When the luggage case is removed from the carrier the carrier itself becomes essentially still another separate piece of luggage which the traveler must contend with.
The instability of such a carrier when it is tilted to the traveling orientation and the pivoting movement which occurs when the handle is released make it unsatisfactory for certain purposes such as for transporting a small child along with a luggage case.
Efforts have heretofore been made to make the luggage case itself wheelable without the aid of a separate carrier. This typically consists of providing caster wheels at the surface of the case that faces downward when the case is in an upright position. A typical case in that position is substantially higher than it is wide and can easily topple over if it is not maneuvered with a great deal of precision. The person pulling such a case may have to lean over into an awkward posture.
Prior U.S. Pat. No. 5,116,289 discloses a luggage case with a pair of wheels and a built in retractable handle which can be extended to facilitate movement of the case. When the handle is extended, the unit may be tilted about the wheels and be operated in essentially the same manner as the previously discussed luggage case carriers. Thus the unit is subject to the previously discussed limitations of prior carriers.
The present invention is directed to overcoming one or more of the problems discussed above.